According to the SA Local Government Association, the software update poses a significant business risk to municipalities in regards to electricity sales revenue.

On 24 November 2024, all payment meters based on STS (Standard Transfer Specifications) technology will stop dispensing electricity, including in the water and gas utilities business.

The technical remedy is to “reset” each prepaid meter by entering a 20-digit token, which will be issued alongside the electricity upload slip, when the rollover starts.

The STS-Association is a non-profit custodian of STS technology, which defines the technical protocol for the transfer of credit from vendor to the end-user.

The STS-Association certifies all prepaid products using STS conformance technology, ensuring inter-changeability of meters and vending systems deployed in the prepaid industry.

It has been a mandatory requirement for all meters to comply with the reset functionality from inception in 1993, but tests could only be done since 2014.

A small risk that meters certified prior to 2014, may not comply with the software update.
They will be upgraded with assistance from the municipality on a case to case basis.

Once the upgrade token has been fed into the prepaid meter, all previously purchased electricity tokens will be forfeited, with no refunds issued.
Therefore, once the rollout starts, all previously issued electricity tokens should be loaded before the reset token is entered.

Once the prepaid meter has been reset, electricity balances of previous purchases will reflect accurately.
The resetting process is a once-off exercise where after electricity tokens can be punched in as usual.

The municipality has not released a rollout date, but will embark on a massive information drive ahead of the scheduled change over.
Consumers will, however, have to get on board to be able to purchase electricity.

There’s currently a backlog with the installation of new prepaid meters.